Machine for the removal of loose threads from tufted fabric



MACHINE FOR THE REMOVAL OF LOOSE THREADS FROM TUFTED FABRIC Filed Jan. 15, 1958 Jan. 26, 1 E. H. GILBREATH, JR

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 wwu-gmf ATTORNEY) .Jan- 26, 1960 E. H. GILBREATH, JR 2,922,214

MACHINE FOR THE REMOVAL OF LOOSE THREADS FROM TUF' TED FABRIC Filed Jan. 13, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR Elben H. Gilbreoth, Jr

3%, wwaJ ATTORNEY! MACHINE FOR THE REMOVAL OF LOOSE THREADS FROM TUFTED FABRIC Elbert H. Gilbreath, Jr., Lookout Mountain, Tenn., as:

signor to Southern Machine Company, Inc., Chattanooga, Tenn., a corporation of Tennessee Application January 13, 1958, Serial No. 708,487

3 Claims. (Cl. 26-2) This invention relates to improvements in a machine for the removal of loose threads from tufted fabric.

In machines now on the market for the stitching of a chenille or tufted design upon a fabric, such as the machine disclosed in United States Patents 1,984,330; 1,984,331; and 2,004,687, granted to E. E. Boyceand dated December 11, 1934; December 11, 1934; and June 11, 1935, respectively, a needle or gang of needles perforate a fabric backing and deposit a series of stitches therealong. These stitches are initially taken off of the needle by a hooked take-off member and then severed, leaving a tufted or-chenille design upon one surface of the fabric. The initial stitch of the chenille design leaves a loose end of yarn, in the industry frequently referred to by the term tail, protruding from the rear surface of the fabric, rendering the back of the fabric unsightly, and requiring that a lining be placed upon the back of the fabric in order to provide a finished product, or that the loose thread be removed by hand. The primary object of this invention is the provision of a machine which will automatically remove this loose thread or tail from the fabric.

Another object is the pro ision of a machine which can be situated adjacent a chenille machine and which will automatically and continuously remove the loose threads or tails from the fabric after a chenille design has been sewn thereupon by the chenille machine, thus providing for a continuous tufting operation.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent in the course of the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my impro ed machine for the removal of loose threads from tufted fabric:

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 isan enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional View taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 2. p

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, A designates, generally, a tufted fabric and B a machine for removing the loose threads or tails from the fabric, including fabric guide means C; means D for feeding the tufted fabric through the machine; loose thread guiding means E; and loose thread extracting means F.

The tufted fabric A comprises a continuous web or backing fabric 20, having a plurality of stitches 22 sewn thereupon, the stitches being severed at one side of the web to provide tufts 23. As the thread which is sewn into the web 20 upon the initial stroke of the needle, has one end thereof severed as the result of the severing of the last stitch of the previously formed design, a loose thread or tail 24 will remain protruding from the underside of the web. This tail 24 forms no part whatsoever in the formation of the tufted design and normally must be removed by hand. It is a primary 1 tet 2,922,214 Patented Jan. 26, 1960 purposev of this invention to automatically remove these undesirable tails 24. 1

Machine B generally comprises a frame 26, which may include front legs 27 and 28, rear legs 29 and 30, side members 32 and 33 extending between the front legs 27 and 28 and the rear legs 29 and 30 respectively, a front cross piece 34 extending between the front legs 27 and 28, and a lower supporting member 38 extending between the legs 28 and 30 beneath the member 33 and provided with braces 39 and 40.

The rear legs 29 and 30 extend vertically above the surface of the members 32 and 33, forming a support for the fabric guide means C. This fabric guide means C may include a pair of ball bearing pillow blocks 42 and 43 supporting a shaft 45 therebetween. The shaft 45 has mounted thereupon a roller 46 for guiding the tufted fabric into the machine.

Mounted upon the frame 26, in a spaced relation, are a pair of rollers 48 and 49 which form parts of means D for feeding the tufted fabric through the machine. These rollers 48 and 49 are preferably provided with a surface having a high coefiicient of friction, or with small spikes or lugs so that they will firmly grip the tufted fabric, pulling the same through the machine. The roller 48 is preferably mounted on a shaft 50 which is supported upon two ball bearing pillow blocks 52 and 53 carried by the rear legs 29 and 30 respectively. These pillow blocks 52 and 53 are preferably provided with s'lottedmountings 54, so that the roller 48 is movable vertically along the rear legs 29 and 30, fora purpose to be subsequently described. The front roller 49 is preferably mounted upon a shaft 55 which is supported .upon ball bearing blocks 56 and 57 which are mounted upon the members 32 and 33 respectively. Keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 55 is a pulley'58 which is connected by belt 59, and a second pulley 60 to a gear reducer 61. Mounted upon a shaft 64, which is supported between the members 32 and 33, is a driven gear which meshes with a driving gear 66 secured to the shaft 55. Also secured to the shaft 64 is a pulley 67 which is connected, as by means of belt 68, arcuately engaging a tension regulating pulley 69, with a pulley for driving the latter, which is keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 50. The gears 65 and 66 are of identical ratio and the pulleys 67 and 70 are of the same diameter, so that the rollers 48 and 49 will be uniformly rotated.

The loose thread guiding means E may generally comprise a lower L-shaped plate 72, secured transversely of the members 32 and 33, an upper inverted L-shaped plate 74 secured to the lower L-s haped plate 72 and a throat plate 76 secured to the upper inverted L-shaped plate 74. The upper L-shaped plate 74 and the lower L-shaped plate 72 are provided with cooperating slots 77 so that these platesarevertically adjustable with respect to each other. If it, is desired to obtain vertical adjustment other than by the movement of the L-shaped plates, 2. shim 78 may be provided between the throat plate 76 and the upper inverted L-shaped plate 74. In order to move the L-shaped plates horizontally, with respect to each other, shims, similar to shim 78, may be inserted between the contacting legs of the L-shaped plates.

The throat plate 76 generally comprises a relatively flat horizontal plate having a leading edge 80 and provided at the underside thereof with a concave surface'82 extending from the leading edge 80 and adapted to parallel the loose thread extracting means.

The loose thread extracting means F may generally comprise a roller 85, having a surface with a high coeflicient of friction, such as emery cloth, secured to a shaft 86 and supported upon the members 32 and 33 by pillow blocks 87. Keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 86 is a pulley 83 which is driven by a belt 89 entrained above a second pulley 90 mounted upon a prime mover 91, preferably an electric motor, supported upon the cross member 38.

Also keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 86 is a second pulley 93. This pulley 93 is connected by means of a belt 94 to a pulley 96 which drives the gear reducer 61. A tension regulating pulley 95 may be provided intermediate the pulleys 93 and 96. Gear reducer 61 preferably has a 100:1 ratio so that the roller 85 is driven at a relatively high rate of speed, whereas the rollers 48 and 49 are driven at a much slower speed.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

The tufted fabric is fed directly from the chenille machine, where the tufted pattern is formed upon the under neath surface of the web 20, and is pulled over the guiding roller 46 by the feed rollers 48 and 49 so that the tufted pattern 23 will be upon the upper surface of the web 20 and the tails 24 depend from the underside of the web 20. The throat plate 76 is adjusted with respect to the roller 85 so that the tails 24 will have just sufficient clearance to pass between the concave surface 82 of the throat plate 76 and the surface of the roller 85. The pillow blocks 52 and 53 are vertically adjusted along the rear legs 29 and 30 so that the stitches 22 will just clear the upper surface of the throat plate 76 and the tails 24 will be contacted by the leading edge 80 of the throat plate 76. As the tufted fabric is fed through the machine the leading edge 80 will contact the tails 24, the roll 85, rotating at a high rate of speed, will engage the dependingportion of the tail" 24 and the interaction of the concave surface 82 and the surface of the roll 85 will pull the tail 24 from the web 20. The tails 24 will fall through the machine and may be collected in any appropriate receptacle, and the tufted fabric may be gathered upon a roll or in a box for further processing.

Various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be made to the form of invention herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a machine for the removal of loose threads from tufted fabric, the tufted fabric including a web having a plurality of stitches looped therethrough and severed, providing loops upon one surface of the web and a tufted pattern extending from the other surface thereof, with the loose threads extending from the surface of the web having the loops; thecombination of a frame, a plurality of rollers mounted upon said frame in such a manner as to invert the tufted fabric from the position in which it is fed into said machine, the tufted fabric being fed into the machine in such a position so that the tufted pattern extends from the under surface of the web and the loose threads extend from the upper surface of the web and being inverted to a position wherein the tufted pattern extends upwardly from the web and the loose threads extend downwardly from the web, said plurality of rollers including a guide roller and a pair of spaced feeding rollers, a loose thread extracting roller rotating at a high rate of speed and having a high coefiicient of friction disposed between said pair of feeding rollers, and a throat plate mounted upon said frame and situated to the same side of said web as said loose thread extracting roller, said throat plate cooperating with said loose thread extracting roller and guiding the loose threads into contact with said loose thread extracting roller and holding the loose threads thereagainst.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein one of said feeding rollers is vertically adjustable for properly spacing the tufted fabric from said loose thread extracting roller and said throat plate.

3. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein said throat plate is both longitudinally and vertically adjustable for proper spacing with respect to said loose thread extracting roller.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,186,504 Wagner June 6, 1916 1,344,777 Stroud June 29, 1920 2,110,118 Robertson et al. Mar. 1, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,011 Great Britain of 1867 

